MADISON, Wis. - Police officers and deputies from across the state on Friday remembered those who have fallen in the line of duty.

Officers from all over Wisconsin were in Madison to remember their fallen comrades at the Law Enforcement Memorial at the corner of Pinckney and Mifflin streets.

Three Wisconsin officers had their names added to the memorial: Rusk County Deputy Dan Glaze Jr., town of Salem public safety officer Michael Venura and Milwaukee traffic officer Charles Gudgell.

“Honoring them, we focus not on how they lost their lives, but on how they lived their lives and the fact that they gave so freely of themselves in serving their communities,” McFarland Police Chief Craig Sherven said. “This is what makes them heroes.”

With the addition of those names, the total number of names inscribed on the memorial is now 273.

“When I began to prepare for this address, my prayer was that whoever stood in my place at this podium a year from today would have no new names of which to speak,” Sherven said. “We now know this will not happen and there will at least be two.”

The two Wisconsin officers who have already died this year while on duty are Everest Metro Detective Jason Weiland and Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper Anthony Borostowski.

A report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund puts the number of police fatalities in 2016 up 16 percent from the year before.

This is the 27th year the ceremony has been held at the State Capitol.

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